Dear Mr. Bergstrom:
Thanks for your informative response. This is why I like this ListServe.
Experts can provide quick, clear, and concise answers to a variety of questions
that would take some of us days to research. I had a student ask about this
practice once, and I did not have the complete answer. Now I do--thanks!
John Selby
Peter Bergstrom wrote:
> There were two types of tobacco marketing employed in Virginia during the
> colonial period.
>
> The older method -- the consignment system -- which you have described below
> predominated from the early 1600's through about 1730.
>
> The second method -- usually referred to as direct purchase -- had the
> planter sell his crop directly to an English, or more likely Scots merchant
> in Virginia. This merchant or factor then handled all the arrangements and
> assumed all the risk for getting the tobacco to it's ultimate market in
> Europe. As you might expect, the planter usually got a lower price for his
> crop it he marketed it via direct purchase, but the upside was that he had
> his cash or credit in hand at the moment of sale.
>
> As to literature on this topic, I must suggest my own book on this subject
> as one which describes both methods and their impacts upon the Virginia
> economy in detail:
>
> Peter V. Bergstrom, _Markets and Merchants: Economic Diversification in
> Colonial Virginia_, (New York, 1985).
>
> I'm sorry to say that it is no longer in print, but it is available in most
> university libraries.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Janet Hunter [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: 24 April 2001 8:01 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Colonial Tobacco Exports -- Risk/Liability
> >
> >
> > I was recently provided some information that suggested that
> > when a colonial
> > VA tobacco grower/plantation owner "sold" his crop for export to a
> > merchant/ship captain/factor he was not in fact selling it
> > but giving it to
> > that person/company on consignment. The actual "sale" would
> > not occur until
> > the tobacco reached the ultimate purchaser in Europe, for example.
> >
> > Until that time, the tobacco grower was still considered the
> > "owner". Thus
> > if the ship went down, he would lose and not ultimately be
> > paid for his
> > tobacco. For the smaller tobacco grower, in particular, this
> > seems to me
> > like a very risky situation when they were dependent upon the
> > cash from the
> > tobacco sales. I would have thought there would be
> > enterprising businessmen
> > in VA willing to buy tobacco outright there, and thus assume
> > the risk for
> > themselves (or for another party) for the transatlantic
> > voyage and reap the
> > ultimate profits. I do realize that if the grower did sell
> > on consignment,
> > without another middleman, he would stand to reap greater profits.
> >
> > I have been looking for confirmation of the information
> > provided me, so far
> > unsuccessfully, in Virginia/Colonial Chesapeake history books.
> >
> > Do any of you have any thoughts on whether the information I have been
> > provided above is an accurate?
> >
> > Thank you in advance.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Janet (Baugh) Hunter
> >
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> > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> >
>
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